Thomas Jeffery Cole was elected Nov. 6 to represent Oklahoma's 4th Congressional District, which includes 10 of 13 counties within the boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation.

President of nationally-recognized political consulting firm Cole, Hargrave, Snodgrass and Associates since 1989, Cole also served as an Oklahoma state senator and as Oklahoma's first Republican secretary of state.

Cole's mother, the late Helen Cole, is a member of the Chickasaw Hall of Fame as well as a former state senator and state representative from Moore, Oklahoma.

His great grandfather, Thomas Benjamin Thompson, was the last elected treasurer of the Chickasaw Nation before statehood. Famed Chickasaw storyteller Te Ata is Cole's great aunt.